Piura Blanco

In northern Peru, the El Alto valley leaves the Piura plain and climbs towards the first heights, between 200 and 900 metres, at the edge of the Sechura Desert. It rains little here: the plots are irrigated, thanks to Andean systems. By day the sun beats down, night falls all at once, and that gap concentrates the sugars and the acidity in the pod.

The harvest runs from April to August, in the heart of the dry season. What the desert takes away in water, it gives back in consistency: little rain on the beans, few surprises during drying.

Open a Blanco de Piura pod: in the white pulp, the beans are pale, almost ivory, where most cacao yields purple ones. It is this paleness that gave its name to this cacao of the Nacional group, also known as Gran Blanco. Not every bean has it: cross-pollination with neighbouring cacao trees has pushed the white back, and fewer than one bean in two is truly white.

This paleness comes with fewer tannins and less bitterness. On the palate, it brings a fruity, floral brightness, without the wall of bitterness. Gently roasted in Heks, or not at all, the bean has nothing to hide, only an acidity to settle.